Murkowski Raises Campaign Cash, Expects a Fight

U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski is raising serious money for her re-election bid next year, despite having no serious challenger yet.

Campaign coordinator Scott Kendall said that total contributions for the previous three months were close to a million dollars.

All told, Murkowski has raised more than $3 million for the 2016 election, and has more than $2 million on hand.

Kendall, the only full-time campaign staffer so far, says they don’t plan to open campaign offices until next year but could mobilize sooner if needed. As of today, no challenger had filed with the Federal Election Commission, which is mandatory for any candidate who raises more than $5,000. Still, Kendall says Murkowski has to be ready.

“It’s important to remember the filing deadline is not until early June of next year,” Kendall said. “So up until that date, we have to plan that we will have a challenger both in the primary and the general.”